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Keep the gallery or give it up?
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No, her decision was predicated on quality of life, and what was best for her family. Not only being present for them, but also being her best self. Nothing compared to the joy of being a wife and mother, but Bette also needed to feed her intellect and stay connected to her craft.
Since Logan and Angie were spending the night with Kit and Sonny Bette and Tina took advantage of the free night to drive out to the beach after parting ways with Alex. They spent about an hour weighing the pros and cons and when they had an exhaustive list Tina told Bette that she wholeheartedly supported whatever decision she made but suggested that Bette talk to ‘Her James’ first. Tina called him ‘Her James’ jokingly but they both knew how pivotal James was to Bette’s survival and success.
The couple spent the rest of the evening enjoying the romantic setting, strolling through the shops on the boardwalk and talking about the next steps in their plans to move to New York. It was time to start house hunting and applying for schools for Angie. Bette had already done a lot of research online, and since Tina made frequent trips, she’d done on the ground scouting as well, so they had pretty much narrowed the prospects for each.
***
Bette made the call to Alex a few days later with the go-ahead having received agreement from both Tina and James. The removal of Kelly Wentworth as partner in the Wentworth-Porter Gallery was uneventful. Jenny’s video was all they needed to make the case to exercise the moral’s clause, combined with the partner removal which effectively fires Kelly Wentworth with just cause. Kelly had proved herself to be ineffectual at networking on behalf of the business. No matter how many millions she’d swindled from her ex-husband she couldn’t buy the sophistication and refinement that was crucial to engaging with the upper crust of art society.
She lacked good judgement and never heeded Bette’s warnings not to get sexually involved with the artists they were representing. The personal entanglements sometimes resulted in Kelly making business promises that Bette had to veto. That’s not how she did business and was naïve to think Kelly would respect that.
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Bat,
It’s been a joy to travel with you on this creation on what happened with ol Kelly after she & Jenny tried to slay Bette with false innuendo that Bette was “once again” unfaithful toTina, when NOTHING of the sort was thought of nor carried out by our girl.
Bette has always ended up in deep do-do when she thinks she’s “in control” of a situation. Pretty much she doesnt know how to say “NO”. She hates cutting ties. From the jump, Tina has been the one to see thru pretty much any bodies shytt when it comes to someone who wants to jump Bette’s bones.
Tina is VERY AWARE that Bettes’ sexual vibes are picked up by male & female “radar” and she knows how to handle that. She knows that more often than not, Bette will UNDER-estimate the signals she is sending out and miss the “red flags of warning”.
I love your 1st page of this chapter. Bette owns up to her unwillingness to understand &heed Tina’s warnings and is willing to take extreme measures of getting out of the gallery business rather than have it cause division between her & Tina. Oh how I love Alex’s sober& prudent thinking. She really knows the law, and that Bette’s contract with Kelly is really setup to protect Bette’s investment & reputation.
And 3 wiskey shots & “hip-hip hurrah” that James faithfulness will be rewarded with the soon-to-be “Porter-Bolen Gallery”!!! Bette has come a LooonngggG way in realizing that other people are as gifted & talented, and responsible as she. And that her most trusted friends can and WILL make sound choices that will show their love/respect for her.
Lastly, I like that U’re exploring one of the questions we TLW fans have had and that is “what’s the connection btwn Jodi & Kelly”? Why are they buddies??? During the restroom scene at the Dance-A-Thon where Jodi revealed that “Kelly had told her” that Bette was “unfaithful” to Tina, we all were like WTF??? What was Kelly doing even talking to Jodi about “anything”??? So looking forward to how you write scene
Great comment, Dumplin. I agree that Alex is a terrific lawyer and a great new character. And yes x 100 to the question of how Jodie and Kelly know each other. That was a huge loose end at the end of TLW.
What I did wrong is not listen to Tina. She didn’t trust Kelly and warned me about making a snap decision, but I argued. I guess I was so eager to get back into the gallery business I got caught up and fell into her trap.”
“Babe, I just didn’t trust her around you and I was right about that, but I agree with Alex getting into the gallery business wasn’t a mistake. It’s what you love.” THIS response is Tina at her best!
1. Affectionate: “Babe” . . . .
2. Intuitive & tactful: I just didn’t TRUST HER around you . . .
3. Insightful and encouraging: I AGREE w/Alex. Getting into the gallery busi WASN’T a mistake. It’s WHAT you LOVE.
TINA understood that as long as Bette released her energy, passion, creativity & talents in a way that fulfilled and satisfied her heart/soul, Bette was also free to release the same toward her wife & children. The grass would NEVER be “greener on the other side of the fence”. She could then fulfill another life-passion and that was to be in a monogamous, intimate relationship.
DumplinT
Thank you so much for commenting and your insight into exactly what I had hoped to portray in this chapter. Both Bette and Tina are showing growth in their personal relationship and professional careers and balancing the family life. We know Bette has a tendency to overestimate herself and thinking she can control things, that are not in her control. She’s slowly learning the lesson of listening to others and accepting help and advise. I appreciate you taking the ride with me as I try to find justice for Bette for the Kelly thing. Take care and stay safe..
Thank you for these chapters. I look forward to see the rest !
HI izzie,
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m working on the next chapter. Hope to post next week. Take care and stay safe.
Glad Kelly is out of the picture! Now let’s see if she had contact with Jodi before she came back to LA.
I love to see how Tina & Bette work together as spouses, they really mastered the communication tool.
The Porter-Bolen Gallery is a great idea, James is part of Bette and visa versa, they have such a long past and future as partners in the Gallery.
This story line is something i remember, it looks similar to something i have read before. But that happens more often because some stories are similar but different.
I look forward to the next chapter!
Bibi28
Thank you for reading and commenting. Yes, it’s familiar because I posted it before then took it down to revised it. Glad to be rid of the Kelly partnership in the gallery, and now James and Bette have a chance to make their dream come true. Bette and Tina are definitely on the same page now and looking forward to their new life in New York. We’ll see where the Jodi/Kelly storyline goes, I’m still working on figuring it out. Take care and stay safe.
Hi BAT2012
Sorry this comment is so epically long. I am catching up on my reading and find it easier to read the whole story and drop one comment rather than do it per chapter. Hope it’s not too annoying. :-)
So, I love this story because it was always ridiculous the way what happened with Marci was just dropped. The show always does this. It has no grasp of stakes. So this is an excellent point of departure from canon.
>>>“Because I’m not everyone else, and you made me a promise.” Tina answered simply.<<>>In that moment she’d shattered Tina’s long-standing belief system that she had to acquiesce to Bette’s needs and wants never expecting compromise.<<>>“One time she’d just been hitchhiking from Vegas with a couple of teenagers stoned out of their minds, but the other time she floated off in a raft boat in the Pacific Ocean and got picked up by a billionaire in his yacht and sailed off to Mexico.”<<<
This made me laugh out loud again… TLW was so soapy!
Clever twist on the meeting of Molly and Shane when Shane is buying a gift for B&T. And of course the demise of Shane’s trust in Jenny over the letter. It was always awkward, Shane’s loyalty to Jenny and so much of her (Jenny’s) behaviour was just resolved via her death, which left so many loose ends. It’s good to see these being addressed in a logical way, with an injection of both common sense and straight-up legal consequences.
I love that you have Bette making James a partner! That is so lovely, as he is such a loyal and supportive figure to her.
Okay, so now we’re on a cliffie…. Was there a conspiracy between Kelly and Jodie??? I think that’s very clever if there was. I’d have loved to see that on TLW.
Hope you can post an update at some point, but I’ll add this story to my favourites (now I worked out how to do that!) and hope to see more from you when you can.
Thanks, BAT20212! I enjoyed reading that very much
Largo
Hi again – something went a bit funny with my last comment. I think I used a character to distinguish quotes that Word Press doesn’t like! Anyway, I hope it still makes sense.
I meant to say that Tina’s line – that she’s not everyone else and B made her a promise – was really beautiful.
L